They were so different from each other, and yet that was what made their relationship work.
Before that one fateful night that changed everything, Philip never would have imagined his life would have ended up this way. Then again, Philip never really imagined much of anything. All that mattered was data, research, whatever point of interest happened to catch his attention at that particular point in time.
Worse, he supposed. Back then, he never even chose what he looked up in the Gaia Library. Whatever he was told to do was just done without question. It never even occurred to him that he could make his own choices, decide that what he was doing for the organization was wrong.
And then they came for him, rescued him. He was reminded of the fact that he didn't even have a name of his own, that he had never made a single decision for himself in his life. It was a sin he would work to atone for, the same way he knew that Shotaro constantly tried to make up for his big mistake.
It was actually extremely hard at first, his new life outside of a lab. He'd only been seventeen then, a boy with no name or memories of his family. He had no idea what things he liked, what foods he preferred eating. It must have been hard on Shotaro too, he knew. The other boy wasn't a whole lot older than he was, and they were abruptly forced on each other, suddenly living on their own together as they both struggled to piece their broken lives.
Shotaro had cried a lot at first, when he thought Philip couldn't see him. Philip looked up whatever he could find on grief and loss of someone close to you, but he couldn't directly understand it. He never brought it up with Shotaro, distracted with his own new life experiences, and tried his best to never mention the boss, the man who had rescued him, had named him shortly before dying. And yet Shotaro kept his promise, took care of Philip all the time despite his own grief. Philip had to learn to do everything on his own, to remember things like bathing and eating and sleep, things he generally always considered unimportant. Even now he needed occasional reminders when he got too caught up in a research topic, but the more time passed it became easier.
Shotaro was so much different from himself. His partner was rash, reacted without thinking, emotional. But Philip was learning that he needed Shotaro for those exact reasons. Shotaro was gentle with him, worried over him. It was... nice. Like having a big brother, or so he guessed. He didn't like thinking about family, though, or the pages about them ripped out in his book, so he tried not to think in those terms.
But it was so much more than that. Whenever they transformed, whenever they had to fight, there was a connection between them no amount of research had ever been able to describe. In that state he could read Shotaro's thoughts, every movement of their combined body before it even happened. He learned when it was important to take full control of his power and when it was okay to let his aibou have full reign, only lending him his mental strength. And when they were fully in sync, sharing in mind and body? It made him feel like he was complete, if only briefly. They truly were a single person now, two different halves that came together.
It still bothered him that his past was a mystery. The present still had problems, still had things that actually made him worry for once in his life. But he was alive now...